Eternity
by Judin
Summary: Choices, losses, emotions and whispered endearments. The two of them will become prisoners of eternity, helpless to change what had come to pass. [Cedric and Phobos shounen.ai]
1. Chapter 1

Author's notes: BIG SPOILER for the end of the Endarno arch. Finish that part of the comics first, unless you are one of those who aren't bothered by spoilers.

Readers will get free cookies and a glass of milk, reviewers will get a kiss from Frost.

Frost: WHAT?

Judin: Pucker up, you big, blue hunk!

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_Eternity I_

In his haste he had no idea where he ended up. Getting away from the Council hall was his first priority, directions be damned. Only later did he stop to think about the risk he had taken in apparating wildly like that, but at the time he had only thought of escaping. Phobos had taught him that. Get away first, plan revenge later.

Cedric was running down a hallway that seemed endless as well as unchanging. The slap of his soft shoes against the tiles was the only sound that broke the spell of silence. The air was fresh and a little bit cold. The world was empty, save for him. On his left was a blue wall, carved with pictures depicting the history of Kandrakar, and on his right were round windows without glass, leading out to endless nothingness and clouds. He knew that he was going downwards, as he could see other twisting towers, all of them similar to the one he was in, becoming taller and taller with every turn.

He was not sure how long he had been running when it happened. Suddenly he was no longer the only living thing that disturbed the quiet. A door slammed open in the tower closest to his own, making Cedric stop. He hid behind one of the pillars that separated the windows and pushed his blonde hair over his shoulder. Were they looking for him?

It was Phobos. Cedric's heart sped up as he recognised his master, the one who had betrayed him only hours before. A great current of feelings swept through him; hate and anger, hurt and affection and need. The prince of Meridian was standing with his back to the edge, a step away from falling, his hair swaying softly in a gentle breeze. He was obviously speaking to someone, but no words reached the ears of the blonde who was secretly watching.

It happened so fast. The cry of surprise froze in his throat. He fell. Phobos had made the last step. _He did it on purpose._ Cedric pressed himself against the pillar, cold seeping through his robe from the blue, wavy stone. The world seemed gone from underneath his feet. He was unable to take his eyes off his falling master; the back arched gracefully, the lips parted to scream, the hands clawing the air, fighting against the injustice of it all. And he felt the undeniable irony of it, because Phobos was free at last and yet this fall had no bottom, no end.

The point of dark blue became infinitely small before it was gone.

The blonde closed his eyes hard to keep back the rising pressure behind them, but his next exhale was a sob. He was gone! After that, time stopped moving. He ran down the corridor until he was no longer sure of his own name. A stream of bittersweet memories was churning in his head and aching in his chest. Embraces, kisses, pain and torture, confessions of love and the final, cruel betrayal. _My l…love. _

Only during moments of blind and unstoppable passion had those words passed between them. Those words that the humans of the Earth held so high. To him, they had been true. What had they meant to Phobos?

When they caught him he was beyond rational thought. He could have apparated away. He could have used his magic. He just cried.

Cedric lies on the bed in his cell, dreaming a dream of being bound in shackles and left at the mercy of the crawling time, never to escape it and slip into blissful, dark death. No more tears for his lord. No more tears now. Eternity took them away. Eternity means forever, and Cedric knows how long that is.


	2. Chapter 2

Final chapter: Final moments of our beloved prince._

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_Eternity II_

Kandrakar is the centre of eternity. An island of safety surrounded by nothing. Who builds a door into nothingness? Someone who knew he would come? He knows his destiny. No more prison walls. No more of their mercy. No more dreams filled with his parents' disappointed eyes. They didn't scream when he…

_"I have made my decision…"_

And he does it. He completes the step that will bring him out of balance, lets gravitation do the rest. The look on the girls' faces almost makes him laugh, but behind them he can see Elyon, and her quiet forgiveness burns him.

_"In all eternity, I will fall…"_

He remembers… _"Come to me, Cedric."_ …how much fun it was to hurt him, heal him, twist him around his little finger until he was beyond salvation, beyond escape, unable to decide whether he loved or hated his master. Those whispered confessions, what did they mean to him? In those moments Phobos had known they were true.

"…_in emptiness…"_

The air is so breathable, and yet he cannot take a breath. He claws the air, wants to make justice bleed for what it has done to him. Meridian was his! Laws can be rewritten, but the desires of the heart cannot.

"…_but no one will ever imprison me…_

Eternity is forever. It is endless possibility, repetition and discovery. For Phobos it is this. Falling. Phobos knows eternity.

"…_ever again."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's notes:** Looks like I had another chapter coming after all, but this is almost certainly the last one. Big spoilers for end of the Ludmoore arch. Don't read unless you know what's coming. And please leave a little review for me, just so I know my stories are reaching someone.

_Eternity III_

Cedric isn't sure if he has ever experienced true love. His feelings for Prince Phobos was a powerful current of pain and desire, strong enough to leave him weak and trembling, strong enough to bind him in servitude despite failure and punishment. They didn't go away, those feelings, not even when the regent was torn from him by something worse than death, and while bound to humanity, he often found that the memories of that time made him cry.

Orube was another thing entirely. She brought sunshine into a soul cursed with bitter darkness. She made him laugh, look forward to the morning and even see beauty where he had once been blind. He changed for her, willingly, said things for no reason other than to see her smile. Such a fierce warrior, to come all the way into his heart.

Does he regret his life? No. Even the most deceitful of his actions are of some value now, in this instant as he contemplates himself before the sleep he knows is coming. He can learn from them now. And he knows that a lot of them were done for love. He can see Phobos face clearly, with one of those genuine smiles that only Cedric was allowed to see, but Orube's face is tearful.

"Don't be sad, Orube. This is the destiny I have been given and the path I have chosen. No tyrant in the world can take it from me, and neither can you."

It's easy to let go. Light surrounds him, lifts him up, and something inside him lets go, so that he can't help but smile even as he fades away. The freedom he craved has finally come. His edges blur to black, staining the rocks beneath him. For a moment he can feel everything around him, each page of the book, the malice and the confusion, but Orube's love for him shines through it all. Perhaps he has known true love after all. Then all is light, and he knows no more.

Orube takes the feather pen from Hai Lin and runs it through the ink on the ground. On heavy, unsteady legs she gets up and walks over to the cards, bending forward to write a single word on the card picturing the heart of Kandrakar.

_Goodbye_


End file.
